


Flowers by Your Doorstep

by DigitalSpectre



Series: By Any Other Name [1]
Category: overwatch
Genre: Amnesia, Other, Some feminine name suggestions but they're not used, gender neutral reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-08
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2019-01-10 13:46:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12300378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DigitalSpectre/pseuds/DigitalSpectre
Summary: You have no idea who you are. Everything from your past is gone. You were discovered, confused and wandering, by the international peacekeeping organization Overwatch. There was no sign of how you got there, no records that they could find to help you home. And when you were afraid, terrified, of being stuck in a hospital to be studied and prodded, you were offered a way out. Blackwatch's commander took you in, offered you training and a job. If you got your memory back, great. But either way, you would have a home. Lately someone's been living flowers by your door, trying to help you find a new name. It's kinda cute.





	1. Lavender & Rosemary

You have no idea who you are. No idea where you’re from. No idea if you have friends or family looking for you. You know nothing about the past. But that’s okay. Because you’re not in a bad place right now. If it comes back, great. If not, fine. You’re happy.

Sweaty but, happy.

Your boss is a man named Gabriel Reyes. A hero of the omnic war, he’s intimidating and stern. But also a kind and supportive teacher. It’s because of him that you’re not trapped in a hospital somewhere or out on the streets. He took you in, declared he was enlisting you into Blackwatch. You’re not sure what your job is, for the most part you end up running errands for anyone that asks, but you take to your training with dedication. You want to make this worth it. He’s watching you run his drills; you’ve been spending hours leaping over obstacles, around corners, dodging the stun shots fired by the training drones. You’re hiding behind one barrier, breathing heavy and hoping the drones forgot you were there. He points across the training field and motions for you to keep going. You hold back a weary sigh and nod. You dart out from behind the barrier, throwing yourself around a column as a shot hisses past your head. Straight to another half wall, over and down into a crouch, then up again, throwing yourself onto the goal in order to avoid another stun shot. Not particularly graceful but small victories.

“Try to practice your rolls more, Doe. I want a smoother finish, like your earlier dodge. You did it well, just need to practice until it’s muscle memory.” Commander Reyes seemed pleased with your work regardless of your last stumble. You feel warmth and pride; you’re determined to make him proud. You haul yourself to your feet and salute him enthusiastically. He gives you a smile and waves you out of the training facilities. You run, despite your aching legs. You can’t wait to take a shower. A warm one with lots of flower scented soaps. You just got a few bottles of handmade soaps that you’ve been dying to try. 

You stop as you reach your room, eyeing a small lavender plant left at your door. A card sticks out that reads “Room 104” on the outside. On the inside it reads “ _Hey. Heard you still can’t remember your name. Figured I’d help you look for a new one. What do you think of Lavender?”_

You laugh. That’s actually pretty cute. No one signed it but it’s probably from one of the medics. You spend a lot of time giving them a hand; they always seem to need another pair. You leave your new plant on your dresser, making sure the soil is damp enough before walking into the soothing sanctuary of your bathroom. Lavender doesn’t seem like the best name for you. Cute. But not quite.

\---

Sometimes you think you’d enjoy working as a field medic. You spend a lot of time in the medbay, and you’ve been taught a lot of emergency field care, to the point where you’re actively caring for less serious injuries. You’re currently carefully picking out glass from the back and shoulders one of Blackwatch’s best agents, a young man with a penchant for old west aesthetics named Jesse McCree. He’s attractive, perhaps a year or two older than you (maybe?), muscular and rugged. You’d never dream of flirting with anyone at work but he was nice enough to look at. You were chatting light heartedly with him, trying to keep his mind off the pain as you kept sliding glass from his flesh. 

“It’s a nice buckle. Did they have others, Agent McCree?”

“I keep tellin’ ya, just McCree. Sure darlin’, all sorts. I’ll send you their link sometime. I’m thinkin’, the one that says ‘Big Bad Wolf’.” 

You chuckle, pulling out another thin shard of glass. “Big Bad Wolf? For me?”

“Course. You’re intimidating.”

The two of you laugh, both cut short when McCree wheezed from pain. 

“See? So intimidating even your laugh hurts.” Agent McCree teased. He winced immediately after. You frowned, trying to be more careful about what you say. You don’t want him to be in pain.

“It’ll be over soon, Agent McCree. When I’ve closed your wounds I’ll fetch you some pain meds. You too, if Doctor Ziegler isn’t here by then, Agent Shimada.” You don’t hear a response from agent Shimada, but he isn’t really talkative. He seems imposing, but you know it’s not intentional. He’s just hurting. More than usual, tonight. But you certainly aren’t qualified to help him. Hardly qualified to help Agent McCree, but neither he or you would argue with Commander Reyes about it.

“Doesn’t hurt too bad, you’re gentle. Joinin’ the med team full time?” Agent McCree spoke softly, glancing at you over his shoulder.

“I’m not sure where the commander intends to assign me. It seems likely but I’m not very far into my training.” You smile as you pull the last shard out of his back. Now you can clean up, dabbing disinfectant as you go. His back is tense. He’s trying to keep himself from hissing with every touch. 

“Almost there, just have to apply the liquid stitch now. Okay?” You murmur softly, adjusting your work table to pull the sealing materials closer.

“Take your time doc, I’m in no rush to get out of here.” He sounds tired. You begin the painstaking task of holding the cuts together and sealing them with the sticky ooze. The talking dies down and a sort of peace comes over the room. You feel comfortable, with your task and your company. Perhaps the time has come for you to step out of your shell, make some friends. What better way to make friends than dragging glass out of them?

When the doctor arrives and takes agent Shimada to a private room, you’ve finished closing McCree’s cuts. He stopped wincing when you handed him a few low level pain pills. You aren’t sure they really took all the pain away but you don’t want to give him something stronger without Dr. Ziegler’s opinion. He starts talking again as you apply the large gauze bandages over his shoulder.

“So, what do you do when you’re not here?”

“Training mostly. I can’t remember if I had any hobbies or anything. I do have a little plant that I take care of. That’s exciting.” 

You step back and let Agent McCree test his shoulder. He smiles at you, warm and kind, and that makes you smile back. You’re glad the other Blackwatch agents are so kind. Someday they’ll be your direct coworkers. It’s good to know you’ll get along.

“Feels great Doc, thanks for the patch up.”

“Not a Doc yet, I’m glad you aren’t in pain though. Come back in the morning and see one of the actual doctors for proper medication. And no training, wait at least a week and then ask a doctor for clearance. Alright, Agent McCree?” You try to be as firm as Doctor Ziegler but you know you’re not there yet. It comes across as a request that clearly cannot be enforced.

“Alright, on one condition. Just McCree, Doc. McCree.” He smiles at you, his eyes tired but with a light dancing in them. 

“Deal. Good Night, McCree.”

When you wake up the next morning, there’s a small Rosemary clipping in a little pot outside your door. The notecard says “ _How about Rosemary?”_


	2. Lily & Daisy

You wince when you get flung over Agent Shimada’s back again, rolling to the side before shakily bouncing back to your feet. He waited for you to force yourself back into position before slowly beginning to circle you. When Commander Reyes asked if you wanted to do hand to hand or pistol training first you selected hand to hand. Because if you did lose a weapon you wanted to be prepared. That was, obviously, what he wanted to hear. He immediately set you up to spar with Agent Shimada. Which was fun.

It was not fun.

Commander Reyes observed off to the side, keeping notes on your performance, what areas you needed to improve in. It kept you from focusing, which is how Agent Shimada kept flipping you over. Like a turtle. Just, whoop. There you are. On your back. You dodged do the side, narrowly missing his leg coming down. He was intentionally going slow enough for you to keep up. A easily ducked punch and your arms moved forward to keep the follow up punch from hitting your abdomen. You shoved at him, pushing yourself back out of range. He nabbed you again though, knocking you out of the circle and onto your ass. You wince, pushing yourself back into your feet.

“How can I improve?”

Agent Shimada dusted off his hands before hauling you back up to your feet. Your shoulders were already killing you.“Work on maintaining balance. It’s fairly easy to push you over.”

You nod. That’s, the damn truth. Your commander steps in, ordering you to spend the rest of your day doing your standard routines. Which meant more barricade vaulting. Wall climbing. Uncomfortable jumps that you weren’t sure you’d make. A lot of running along the thin tops of barricades themselves. Halfway through the Commander activated some of the training bots in your path. Unappreciated. By the time you got to one of the thinnest, tight rope walks you were too tired to stay upright without flailing your arms.

“Need a hand there?”

You yelped, tumbling down off the barrier you’d been wiggling on. There was a soft laugh and then someone held out their hand. Agent McCree grinned at you. “You okay?”

“Oh, sorry Age- um. McCree. I was just, working, um. yeah.” His hand was rough and calloused, but handled yours so gently. 

“You doin’ field trainin’?” His smile seemed off. Concerned.

“Just simple stuff, field movement, hand to hand stuff, nothing more advanced than that I’m, nowhere near anything else. Maybe in a few months people will be able to mention hand controlled metal projectiles that come out of tubes around me without having to spell it out.” You joke. McCree laughed, though his shoulders were still a little too stiff. He winked at you, messing with his hat.

“Well, when you’re ready to play with a g-u-n, you come get me. I’ll teach you a thing or two.” His grin was a little more relaxed. You squinted playfully, shaking your head.

“Was that, Agent McCree, an innuendo? Near my impressionable recruit ears? For shaaaaame. You will probably be ordered to work with me regardless but for shaaaaaaaaame.” You slowly walked away, trying to move in as much of a slink as humanly possible, pointing at him accusingly. It just made McCree laugh again.

When you get back to your room there are flowers waiting for you again. You had thought your mysterious friend got bored of it. A bouquet of lilies sat in a pretty glass vase. The card is tucked in the middle of the bouquet. “ _Lily’s a nice name. Try it out?_ ”

“We'll see” you whisper softly, carrying the flowers back into your room with a smile.

\---

Down, sweep, up, punch. Agent Shimada has decided to focus on low attacks. The lower you are, the harder you are to push over. You drill on sweeping kicks and suplexes and any tactic necessary to take out someone’s legs. You’re like a chihuahua, the ankles are all you can get but you’re gonna get those damn things. 

“Better.” He steps into your circle, sliding into a fighting position. You’re definitely going to need to ice some bruises today. You sweep and he grabs your leg, wrenching it forward. You almost slip but you catch yourself and twist out of his grasp. You attempt to grapple him, aiming to knock him over your shoulder, but he sees this coming and rolls forward. He warned you to avoid having your back on the ground. You held him up with your knees and kept him from pressuring your neck. You smacked at his face, useless as anything besides a distraction for you to pull your knees closer to your chest and kick him off. You rolled to your knees but stopped when he tapped his hand on the back of your neck.

“Almost. Tomorrow we’ll spar again… Would you like to join myself and Agent McCree in a rec room? He insists that we watch a movie” Agent Shimada didn’t seem too excited about this movie. You wondered just how bad Agent McCree’s movie tastes were. Bad enough to invite a barely trained recruit along. But you’ve dragged out shrapnel and god knows what else out of those two, so maybe that made you an acquaintance at this point.

“Sure.” You smiled, following him out of the training yard. The halls were congested by the late afternoon, filled with people trying to run to get the last paper filed or the last bullet inventoried before everyone was out for the day. Agents filtered through them lazily, just trying to find something to eat or a corner to sleep in. Maybe both. Just lie under a thick ficus with a donut for a while. Contemplate life choices. Yearn for a second donut. You almost lose Agent Shimada in the crowd a few times, barely catching sight of him disappearing through a pair of doors.

The rec room seemed so empty with so few people in it. Agent Shimada had taken a large plush chair for himself, motioning for you to join the cluster of seats near the television. Agent McCree twisted around on the couch to see who Agent Shimada was calling over. A bright smile lit up his face and made you smile back. You liked hanging out with him, on the rare occassions you both happened to be in the same place at the same time. You really only knew him and Shimada by name, so they were practically your only almost-friends. Maybe Doctor Ziegler. But she was, almost as intimidating as the Commander. So accomplished and so young. You didn’t think you’d ever reach her level, or the Commander’s. But that was fine. You liked it small and quiet. A bit more manageable.

“Agent Shimada invited me to watch a movie with the two of you, I hope that’s alright.” You remark, trying to decide where to sit. McCree chooses for you, patting the couch next to him.

“Always, love havin’ you around.” He flicks through the holoscreen menu but you can still see him watching you out of the corner of his eye. If it wasn’t for that smile of his you wouldn’t be sure if he was serious or not. That’s what made him a good Blackwatch agent. You didn’t know anyone that played their cards so close to their vest. Or maybe he was just that damn charming. You forced yourself to look at the screen, surprised to see an old monster movie pop up. The kind where the monster was so poorly animated that it became a comedy. You smiled, looking at him with a question in your eyes.

“Old monster flicks are the only movies me and Genji agree on. We can watch somethin’ else if you’d like?” McCree offered. You shook your head.

“No, I love them, I was just surprised.” You watch the screen with a small bit of glee. They were the best. So bad they were good. Plus you didn’t want to get on Agent Shimada’s bad side. Especially since you were going to keep sparring and he was so, so much faster than you. 

You pretend not to notice Agent McCree stretching out over the couch, even though his fingertips are brushing your shoulder. He doesn’t seem to mind so you decide you don’t either. Even if it distracts you from the movie a little bit. Enough that you jump when a cg creature bursts out of someone’s ass.

“Why?!” You gasp, throwing your arms towards the screen. You glare half heartedly at your companions, both of whom are snickering at you. McCree slides closer to you, resting his arm fully across your shoulders.

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect ya from the very real monster.” He smirks. You are tempted to pinch his underarm. You don’t. But you wanna. Instead you huff and stick your tongue out at him. He returns the gesture until you both get bored of it and resume watching the movie. He doesn’t scoot away though. Neither do you. Even when agent Shimada leaves after the second movie the two of you stay clustered on the couch. You just relax in the warmth and try to keep yourself from getting any more ‘frights’. Which you didn’t get in the first place. It was, gross. Not scary. Gross.

“This is nice. It’s been so long since I’ve just hung out with someone, I think. Better than sitting alone trying to remember if I have friends somewhere.” You murmur as the last movie’s credits slowly roll up the screen. You stand up and stretch. “Thanks for letting me barge in on your movie night.”

Your smile flickers when you see the sad expression on McCree’s face. His smile bounces back when you meet his eyes and he stands. “We’ll have to invite you along more often then. Probably before one of us gets blown up on a mission.”

“Pft, on a mission. I’ll get blown up here and we both know it.” You laugh.

The two of you wander to the dorms, snagging food on the way. At your door is another plant, this time a small daisy plant. They’re soft blue in color. Beautiful but simple.

“ _Do you like the name Daisy?_ ” McCree read the card over your shoulder. “That’s cute.”

“It is, isn’t it? Someone’s been doing this for weeks.” You smile, carefully holding your new plant in one hand while you tap your door key open. “I don’t think Daisy’s right for me though.”

“Well, there’s always the next one right?” McCree grinned at you from your doorframe, lingering for a few more seconds before slowly walking away. You could still see him glancing towards your room as the door closed.


	3. Tulip

You still can’t beat Genji in a fist fight, but you can beat Overwatch recruits, and that’s something that you can see your commander smirking at Strike Commander Morrison over. You’d spar more with Blackwatch recruits, but there are far less of them and most of them are just as busy as you are. Most of the time your only fight choices are overwatch recruits and your friends. Not that you’re ever disappointed for the chance to swing at McCree. 

You’d like to right now. He’s the strictest teacher you’ve had. You’ve had less time to spend helping out in the medbay or the engineers or really, anyone. Your days are arranged completely around training; mostly shooting. McCree really doesn’t like the idea of you being on field duty. But he doesn’t get a say in where Commander Reyes assigns you. But he does get a say in how well you shoot, which he takes full advantage of. Your fingers ache from gripping your training pistol, your legs are killing you from the constant run and gun. Some of your shots are off target and you can see it frustrates him. His hat is off, hair messed up and eyes crinkled with stress. His stare seems more and more likely to put as many holes in the training bots as your bullets have. The frown, frustrated and bitter and upset, is not fit for his face. He’s meant to be smiling. Or smirking. Whatever he feels like doing. The only way you can help him is to shoot better. But damn if your hands aren’t hurting.

“Again, shoot as soon as you see the shot. Take too long and you’ll go down. A flesh wound won’t stop someone who really wants to kill you.” McCree’s voice was a low growl. He really hated this. You tried to ask the commander to teach you but he decided McCree’s intensity would only make you better, faster. The faster you learned the faster you could be utilized. You were so close to being ready to work for your keep. You just had to shoot better.

You had to shoot perfectly. And you tried. It was easiest when you dropped low before you shot, but McCree had scolded that out of you pretty quickly. Never be predictable. Always be fast. Your reflexes are everything. If you move slow you die. If you move predictable you die. If you move wrong even once you die. There was a lot of death involved. It seemed like it was on McCree’s mind a lot. You wish he didn’t have to worry but, he did. Overwatch wasn’t a casualty free organization and you were in the even more dangerous black ops division. A death wasn’t a shock in Blackwatch. Coming back alive was the shock. It was the reason why they were so much smaller than the other divisions. Death was just a part of it.

He was right though. You did as he asked, running the courses again and again until the sun set and you were practically crawling your way through. You sipped from your water bottle while McCree sorted through your results. He was muttering, running his hands repeatedly through his hair. 

“How’d I do?” You hesitate to ask, but if you leave him to his devices he’ll be there all night. Or worse. He’ll make you get back in the course.

McCree took a deep breath and sighed. “Decent.”

“Really?” You jump up, almost skipping over to him. 

“Don’t get too excited, you still need to work on your speed. Your aim is just. It’s decent.” He scratched his head and managed a smile. “I got a mission tomorrow. You’ll be training solo. Better not slack off now.”

“Never do.” You were surprised how much you were grinning. Decent was high praise coming from McCree. Decent meant you could probably come out of a firefight alive. Maybe a little injured, probably, but alive. You would squeeze a ‘good job’ out of him when he got back if it killed you. Maybe see if you couldn’t find one of Overwatch’s sharpshooters to give you some tips. If you could find one willing to talk to you. Most of them were kind enough but you had come to the realization that you were fairly sheltered. Reyes had his best working with you and as a result you had little contact with anyone out of Blackwatch. Besides Dr. Ziegler. And recently she’d been concerned with you, though she wouldn’t mention why. It was strange but really, you didn’t know her that well. Maybe it wasn’t strange. You should probably ask Genji when you had the chance.

McCree isn’t talking much as you walk. He looks trapped in his thoughts, his face scrunched up, his lips in a straight line that threatened to dip back into a frown. You stop him as you approach the dorms, resting your hand on his shoulder and trying to catch his eye.

“Is everything alright? You seem, really serious. This mission that bad?” You weren’t allowed to share details from missions. Or, rather, they weren’t allowed to share details. You would be in the same boat soon enough. That didn’t mean McCree couldn’t share his worries if he wanted to.

“No, that’s not really- You worried about me darlin’?” His smirk came back and you felt relief wash back over you. You smile back and lightly smack his arm. 

“Don’t be a jackass.” You scold before throwing your arms around his shoulders. “You’re my best friend, McCree. So help me God, you better come back in one piece.”

You almost let go when you felt him go stiff and rigid. But then he relaxed and hugged you back, drawing you in close. You could feel the tension falling out of his shoulders with every breath. He’s warm, and smells like dirt and cigars in the best way. Which, really is just the him-way. In any other situation you weren’t too excited about the smell of either dirt or smoking. It just smelled nice on him. Maybe he put on a certain cologne or something. You’d ask him about it if that wasn’t weird. Although hugging for a long time outside of the dorms was a little weird in and of itself. Maybe you should hug your friends more often. Did you not do it enough? McCree seemed reluctant to part ways, letting one hand linger on your back.

“Can’t make any promises, but for you I’ll do my damndest.”

You left him at his room, not surprised to find a plant waiting for you at yours. A beautiful yellow tulip plant was waiting at your doorstep, with a card that made you laugh. “ _Please don’t actually call yourself Tulip, I just couldn’t find any other plants you’d like._ ”


	4. Hospital Flowers

Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck.

You should’ve trained harder, learned faster. Done anything to be ready for the field. Because Jesse went on his mission alone. And he came back with one foot in the grave.

You weren’t even sure the extend of his injuries. Just that he was in surgery, he might die, and there was nothing you could do to help. You knew Dr. Ziegler would save him. She was the closest thing to an angel this world had. She would pull out all the stops to keep him breathing; like she did for Genji. You never thanked her for that. When you first joined it would have been more appropriate, as the success was newer, but now it felt more authentic. Genji was your friend. She saved your friend’s life. Maybe you would get her something nice with the money you’d saved up. You’d owe it to her now. Two friends’ alive and relatively okay thanks to her skill and patience.

It was hard not to cry.

Commander Reyes had stopped by a few times, just long enough to ask you for a status report before leaving. He was furious. His back was straight as steel, shoulders tense and square, jaw gritting his teeth together. When he found whoever planted that bomb… Well. Nothing would happen. Nothing official anyway. Nothing that anyone would know about but him. 

You waited for hours, pacing, fidgeting in your chair, tapping out whatever song your brain decided to play the first 20 seconds of for an hour straight. You couldn’t be bothered to try to shake it out of your head. Your anxiety pushed it out without assistance. 

Fuck...Fuck...

You flinch when Dr. Ziegler comes out of nowhere. You aren’t even sure she needs her suit the way she moves. She’s smiling though, and you finally realize how tired you are. He’s okay. He’s okay. Jesus fucking christ that jackass is okay. Ish. He’s stable, but his arm was blown off. The doctor couldn’t save it; there was nothing left to save. That would upset him, but he was alive. Dr. Ziegler doesn’t question you when you take a seat next to his bed and wait for him to wake up. Blackwatch looks after its own. Or maybe she just knows you’re friends.

His face is too blank. He always has some sort of expression. A smirk, or a glare, or a growl, or a smile. Especially a smile. Seeing him without one is strange. You glance around to make sure no one is watching, and gently run your fingers through his hair. It’s softer than you thought it would be. You sigh and rest your hand on his. He’ll be awake and back to his normal self, within reason, soon. There was no more need to worry or fuss. 

“What’s his status?”

You jump at your Commander’s voice, yanking your hand away from McCree’s. Your face is bright red but Reyes didn’t seem to care. He wanted an answer, not an explanation.

“Most of his wounds are healed or will heal fully. Dr. Ziegler is working on a prosthesis for his arm as we speak. I don’t know how long that will take though. You’ll need to ask her when she comes out of her work area.” The Commander listens to you with his eyes on McCree. Some of the anger is gone, replaced by a thoughtful determination. He stays silent for a few minutes after you speak. Your eyes wander back to McCree. You wonder what his report will be.

“As soon as he wakes up, report to my office.” Reyes finally speaks as he’s turning to leave. He says nothing more, and you feel a small chill work up your spine. You’re standing on the edge of a precipice holding your best friend’s hand while he sleeps. You nod off, dreaming of your drills and training. Of shitty monster movies and flowers. Of a hand gripping yours back, almost too tight.

You flinch, groggily looking at your clasped hands. It takes a moment to remember where you are and what’s happened. McCree is awake, staring at you with a mixture of pain and relief. Guilt pinches your lungs. You should have been awake, to tell him what happened. But he knew. He was there. And he now he was here, alive, with you. 

“Hey.”

“Howdy.”

The air is thick. There’s relief and grief in equal measures, pain and happiness. Confusion and exhaustion and everything that makes you doubt your ability to provide any real help. 

“Do you feel any pain? I could call the doctor, or, I could just, grab something to help you, or -”

You stop talking when McCree lifts your hand to his lips. It’s a short, gentle touch of his lips. Barely a kiss but in his condition it’s more than enough to make you blush. He smirks, the jackass, and you smile despite yourself.

“I’m fine, sweet thing. Alive. Couldn’t come back in one piece though. Hope you’re not too mad.”

You almost cry. You opt for laying your head on his torso, listening to his heart beat. He shifts your hands so he can touch his fingers to your cheek. His smile is gone, replaced by dark, serious eyes. You don’t ask him what he’s thinking. 

“I’m sorry you got hurt.”

“Me too.”

You want to stay there forever, feeling his chest rise and fall. Feeling him alive and breathing. But you have orders. You force yourself to stand, noticing the way he held his breath as you leaned down to kiss his forehead. His grip on your hand tightens and you squeeze back before gently pulling your hand loose.

“Commander told me to report to him when you woke up. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” You promise.

“Hurry back to me.”

You nod, and as you walk to your Commander’s office you’re struck with a realization that almost brings you to your knees. Dr. Ziegler didn’t allow you to sit with McCree because you’re friends. She thought you were in love with him. And you are.

-

“Commander, McCree is awake.”

“Good, come in and close the door.” Reyes pulls up a file on the holoscreen in his room, pulling up several pictures. You notice one is the aftermath of the explosion. There’s so much blood. A lot of it is McCree’s.

“You were trained with knives during hand to hand combat?” He asked, and you nodded. Reyes motioned to some of the images.

“Eric Brechdier, this man, is behind the smuggling ring I sent McCree to flush out. Overwatch doesn’t have the evidence to snag him. You’re going to get them that evidence.”

“And if I can’t sir?”

“Take your knives.”


	5. Party Flowers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Murder cw, Implied Orgies and Sexual Situations cw,

You were pretty sure you’d never worn clothes this expensive in your life. When you asked Commander Reyes how much it cost he’d just snorted and said “Who said we budget around here?”

You’re dressed head to toe in black and silk. You’re pretty sure your shoes alone could pay rent somewhere. Or hell, your outfit’s the down payment on a house. Maybe a few month’s mortgage. Getting a single drop of wine on anything you were wearing was the most terrifying thing you could think of. The cup you were holding was purely for show. You hadn’t had alcohol since your entire new life began and drinking now was not a risk worth taking.

The mansion was sprawling and filled with enough needless wealth that it made your too-expensive outfit look like a limp burlap sack. The party invitations had implied an elegant night of idle chatter and art viewing. For the most part it was. But the more you wander the more you find rooms that are a borderline orgy. But a really, really classy orgy. Lots of ripped necklaces and scattered diamonds. It would be hot if it weren’t also really uncomfortable. Your job is to find a computer, any computer that’s in a private enough place for you to download a Blackwatch trojan onto it. Easier said than done. It takes you an hour of wandering and giggling to find the least guarded hallway, and there’s still a man with an assault rifle leaning in there. He doesn’t seem ruffled by your tipsy off balanced walking, even when you lean up against him and let some of your wine splash out of your cup.

“You’re cute…”

He sighs, as though he’s heard this before. A lot. “I’m working. If you want to flirt go see Mr. Brechdier.” 

You giggle. “Oooh, he’s our hoost. I like him he’s char-ming. But I can’t find him, I looked. He’s not in his bedroom?” You point behind the guard, wiggling your eyebrow.

The guard sighed, again. “Back down the hall, to the left, first door, follow the giggling. Now, please.”

Well shit. If you can’t get to a computer on your own maybe you can seduce Brechdier into taking you to one. Or maybe you can just stab him. You would rather not stab him, but you will if you can’t find a damn computer. 

You find him surrounded by beautiful, giggling people. They’re all lounging on a pile of cushions and low sitting stools. Touching and laughing. You’re definitely not going to be able to stab him, and you’re just barely attractive enough to blend in but not attractive enough to lure him out of his literal pile of sexy people. You sway, noticing the way the guards in the room tense the longer you stay in the doorway. You have to do something. You wander over to the group, squishing your way next to a pretty woman who’s been pouring wine straight from a bottle into Brechdier’s mouth every time he winks at her. She rests the bottle on your lap as if she’s known you forever.

An idea pops into your head. You were given a tablet, just in case you were discovered and kidnapped into a, bad situation. Reyes would prefer for you to tough it out and wait for rescue, but he gave it to you as an option. If you really felt you had no other choice. You keep your face calm and flushed, moving your fingers along your neckline, plucking the tiny tablet out from behind your clothes. With one hand you gently grab the wine-woman’s face, turning her towards you. When you begin to kiss her, all eyes in the pile slowly fall towards the two of you. Focus is on her when she begins to softly moan. You release her lips to lick her neck and in that moment you drop the pill into the wine. You stop a few minutes later, pretending to catch your breath and wink at your host. He smiles and gives a little clap. 

Another pair gains his attention the same way. As more entertain him your anxiety begins to grow. You need him, and only him, to drink the wine. He solves the problem, taking the bottle from the girl and downing it in one go. He loudly announces that he’s going to take one lucky someone to his bedroom. Bottle girl is, unsurprisingly, his choice, and the two go giggling off for what’s going to be a frankly horrifying night. You don’t leave until you hear her screaming.

“He’s dead!”

Damn right he’s dead. 

You manage to cry your way to your car, relaxing as your driver pulls away from the party. It’s done. You succeeded. You’ve just killed a man. Because he was smuggling. Getting people hurt and killed. Not just McCree, a whole list. But McCree is what mattered. McCree’s injury was what made Reyes skip the legal protocols and send an assassin. You. You’re Blackwatch’s shiny new assassin.

Maybe you should’ve had that wine.


	6. Roses & Thorn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sex Cw, Oral, Penetrative, It's a lot easier to write sex when you only have to describe one person's genitals.

In Retrospect, most of Blackwatch’s activities could be summed up as assassinations. Assassinations, espionage, shady things that happened in the dark. You weren’t as bothered with it as you thought you were, particularly when Brechdier’s death revealed a whole lot of dirt on the man. His death set off a domino effect that was like a field day for Overwatch. One bad guy illegally taken care of. A whole ton of bad guys gotten the ‘right’ way. It was easier to admit you felt that way about your mission to McCree (you didn’t tell him who you killed, only that you had), than it was to admit that you loved him. 

Once you get back to base it’ll actually have been two missions since your realization and you’ll still not have figured out what to say. Or even if you want to say anything. It might be easier not to. You were still the newbie. Killing one guy and planting a ridiculous amount of bugs in some woman’s apartment didn’t make you a seasoned pro. You needed to dedicate a lot of time to your work. Plus, you only had two friends. You didn’t want to lose one just because you got a crush. You didn’t want to lose him. 

You handed Reyes a detailed map of every bug placement, going over the building’s security and the target’s own levels of trust for strangers. It had taken several tries and another, more familiar, cleaning woman to get her to allow you into the apartment. While your partner actually cleaned, you used it to mask your movements as you hid little cameras and microphones. You got in and out without raising much more suspicion than you already had. The only comment the target had was that your towel folding technique ‘needed work’.

It was fine. You were pretty sure she was about to get caught working as a major money launderer anyway. At least one of them was good at cleaning things.

“Good job, Agent. You should go back to your dorms now, rest while you have the chance. You’ll be on the job soon.” Reyes seemed, amused. There was a smile in his eyes that wasn’t normally there, like he was up to something. Or that he knew something you didn’t know. You hope you weren’t going to be dressed up again. Sure, Reyes made the best uniforms, but also, you didn’t want to wear clothes that could also buy someone an entire car. At least. Not clothes that could be destroyed. Put you in a 5,000 unstainable jacket. 

Maybe you would be getting your own stealth uniform. Something you could wear when you weren’t strutting out in the open like a murder peacock. Unless you were always going to be a murder peacock. It seemed likely.

At your doorstep was a single rose, resting against the frame. You were confused when you didn’t see a card, but picked it up anyway. When you opened the door to your room your jaw dropped.

The entire thing was filled with roses. Red ones, pink ones, white, yellow, lavender. Different varieties, some in small little potted bushes. Others in wreaths. Others in bouquets in elegant vases. Wherever there wasn’t a flower there were petals, scattered in a thick blanket. There were even strings of large roses hung from the ceiling. Petals fell off of them with every push of the air conditioning. They floated down in a pastel rain. It was like a fairy tale. You walked into your room breathless. The card was on your bed. 

“I’ve got it. Thorn. Your name is Thorn.”

“Had to get everyone in on this one. But I think it suits ya.”

You spin around to find McCree standing at your door, holding another rose in his hand. He looks better, healed. He twisted his sarape around to cover his prosthetic arm. The life is back in his eyes, and his smile. It’s the brightest it’s ever been. He walked slowly over to you, your door closing behind him, and tucked the rose behind your ear.

“Agent Thorn. How do you like it?” His smile starts to fade with your wide eyed silence. You grab him by the collar and kiss him. You jump and let go, stumbling back with a full face blush.

“Shit sorry, I uh, I really um. I like the name it’s, um-, all these, and all the flowers, by my doorstep and I-” You stop talking, unable to find the words past your embarrassment. When you get the courage to glance up at McCree you’re taken aback by the large smile on his face. He gently lifts his hands to hold your face, this time kissing you. He’s soft, and gentle, and soon your arms are lifting up around his neck. The kiss only stopped when the two of you had to breathe.

“I’ve been waitin’ for that for a long time. I was gonna bring you more flowers but then, well I got blown up and Reyes sent you on a mission and... “ McCree kissed you again. “Life’s too short to not go big.”

“This is very, very big.” You chuckle, trying to blink a stray tear out of your eyes. 

“I had help. You’d be surprised how many of Overwatch’s agents will drop what they’re doing to help someone fill a room with roses.”

“Was Lieutenant Reinhardt one of them?”

“Of course he was are you kiddin’ me?”

You laugh, happiness and relief and love filling you with every moment. “I wondered why Reyes seemed so amused.”

“Yeah, he did the wreaths.”

“Is there anything he can’t do?”

“Rolled, cut biscuits.”

“Really?”

“They did not end well. I do not recommend askin’ him about it.” The two of you stared at eachother solemnly. Your lips slowly met again, your kiss growing hungrier than it’d been before. He grinned as he returned your kiss. You dragged your hands down his chest before moving up to unbutton his shirt. He shrugged it off, letting you trace your fingers over his torso, brushing against his muscles, tracing his various scars. You kiss down his jaw, your lips following your fingers with gentle kisses.

Your fingers undo his belt buckle, dragging his jeans down as you slid to your knees. You pause before touching him, looking up at face. You waited until you heard a quiet yes to touch, fingers stroking so light you were barely touching him. You added a few slight kisses as he began to harden, a teasing smile slowly growing on your face. You trailed your hands off his length and against his thighs. Each touch was feather light, barely there. You kept touching until he groaned. 

“Thorn please.”

Oh yes. You could work with that name. Whether it was your real name or not doesn’t matter. Your real name is gone, probably forever. You’ll take Thorn. You lick with the flat of your tongue in slow strokes. You’re purposefully dragging it out. Partially because you are a little shit. But mostly it’s because McCree has been making these wonderful grunts the whole time. When you finally take him in your mouth he’s already leaking precum, visibly trying to hold back. Your first few bobs are slow and methodical, swishing your tongue as you go. But then you start to move faster. McCree curses, almost losing his balance. He can see the playful smirk in your eyes. He bites his lip and winks at you. When he cums he moans your new name loud enough for the entire division to hear it. 

You attempt to clean him up (and tease him a little more) when he scoops you up and drops you onto your still rose petal covered bed. You pull off your own shirt and he drags down your pants, clearly ready for his turn at mischief. His kisses your inner thighs, creeping close before slipping away. He stops, his lips right above you, and whispers “Ready?”

You nodded and he smirks, immediately putting his tongue to work. He picks up speed and enthusiasm with every moan or gasped breath that passes your lips. He holds your hips to keep you from bucking into him, stopping to brush kisses over your skin before going back in. You cum when he begins to slide his fingers in, carefully moving them to prepare you. He moves his tongue in tune with his fingers eager to make you cum. 

“Jesse!” You gasp, your hands pressing through petals to grip your bedding. McCree wiped his mouth, crawling up onto the bed. He pressed his lips passionately against yours. 

“I like the way you moan my name darlin’.” He whispered into your ear, low and husky. 

“If you wanna hear it again you’d better hurry up and fuck me.” You whisper back. He grinned at you, adjusting himself to press against your entrance.

“Someone’s in a hurry.” He laughed. He was deliberately teasing you. 

You manage to muster up an playful snarl, pressing yourself against him. “Jesse fucking McCree…”

He winks and slowly pushes in, taking his time to savor every inch. For a moment, a small moment, you wonder if you’ve ever had sex before. And then you realize you don’t care. If you did it wasn’t with him. It doesn’t matter. It’s gone now. You let go, wrapping your arms around his shoulders, letting your fingernails graze against his back.

“Thorn.” McCree, no, Jesse, moaned your name into your ear. Over and over again. Each time made you grin. You moved your hips with him, repeated his name after yours in a chant that grew louder the longer the two of you tangled together. You lose track of your breath, mouthing his name against his lips as he kisses you. When the two of you cum again you get enough breath to moan his name one more time.

Jesse slipped out of you slowly, laying to the side and gathering you in his arms. “I’m takin’ it you like the name?”

You laughed. “Yeah, yeah I do.”


	7. Flower Roots

This could have been a good day. It could still be a good day, if Genji fucking Shimada would stop flipping you over like you’re a god damn pancake. It’s been too long you have killed too many people to end up like a pill bug whenever your cyborg pal steps into the training area with you. Then again you tend to poison people, or stab them in the back, a lot of, surprise murder. You’re pretty sure Genji finds tossing you over funny. He’s right. It is. You’ve seen the footage. Every time you get this surprised expression on your face like a perfect O. Like it was the first time you’ve ever been knocked over.

You motion to surrender, pushing yourself to your feet and wheezing as dramatically as you can. “Commander! I can’t go on anymore missions. Genji has killed me. Look at what you’ve done Genji. I’m dying.”

“We’ll bug your corpse and send you in.” Reyes called back. Now that you were technically a full agent your commander didn’t supervise most of your training sessions. He was there to work himself, circling a punching bag while watching Genji handed you your ass out of the corner of his eye. You pressed a hand to your chest and gave your most scandalized gasp. 

“Wow. Okay. Wow.” You put on your best dramatic sway and drag yourself out of the training field, one hand on your forehead, the other trailing behind you like a cape. You can feel Reyes rolling his eyes as you leave. You burst into giggles, laughing even harder when you ran into your lover on your way to the sweet, sweet embrace of a shower and shampoo.

“What’s got ya laughin’?” Jesse looks good. All cleaned up and ready for his mission. Your beautiful sharpshooter, dressed up and ready to kill people.

“Morbid jokes and Genji beating me again. When will you be back?” 

“Not too sure. Whenever Reyes calls me I guess.” He motions you over for a kiss and you gladly comply.

“Well, while you’re gone can I grab one of your hats?” You murmur.

“Sure, why? Doesn’t Reyes set you up with whatever clothes you need?” 

“Oh, it’s not for a mission. When you get back it’ll be the only thing I’m wearing.” You grin, giggling when he swoops in to kiss your neck.  
“Well then I guess I better come back.” You watched him disappear towards the hangar, a contented sigh leaving your lips.

You know who you are. Where you belong. Know your friends. They’re your family. They’re your future. It’s great, and you’re in a great place right now. No matter what the future holds. You’re happy.

Sweaty, but happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Part 2 of "By Any Other Name" will be out soon!

**Author's Note:**

> I was inspired by some reader fanfiction I saw on tumblr. I thought it'd be fun to make someone feel happy with this style of fic. I hope it works!


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